NEW YORK, May 2 /PRNewswire/ -- "Tooth decay is back -- it's worse
than ever -- it's coming to a tooth near you," said a dentist to a National
Institutes of Health (NIH) panel convened to evaluate tooth decay research,
March 2001. Most tooth decay research is poorly done, the panel concluded.

Despite water fluoridation, a glut of fluoridated products and
skyrocketing children's fluoride overdose symptoms (dental fluorosis) in
fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities, tooth decay is still a major
problem.

"While fluoride is proclaimed a significant cavity reducer, there
is little, if any, science to support that," says lawyer Paul Beeber, President,
New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation. "Furthermore, there's no
evidence that lack of fluoride puts children at high risk for cavities," he
says.

An NIH news release supports Beeber's assertion: "... the (NIH)
panel was disappointed in the overall quality of the clinical data that it
reviewed. According to the panel, far too many studies were small, poorly
described, or otherwise methodologically flawed" (over 560 studies evaluated
fluoride use).

Tooth decay is epidemic in poor and minority populations,
according to the Surgeon General, the same groups that suffer a
disproportionately high amount of almost all recorded diseases including obesity
and diabetes -- both linked to sugar overconsumption. Many poor continue
to eat diets that lack several key nutrients and are high in fat and sugar,
according to a study reported by Reuters Health on April 26, 2001.

Dental researcher, Professor Brian Burt, BDS, University of
Michigan, reported to the NIH panel, "... avoiding consumption of excess sugar
is a justifiable part of caries prevention, if not the most crucial aspect."

Fluoride varnish is painted on young children's teeth in many U.S.
head start programs even though the NIH panel found no research supports its
effectiveness on primary teeth.

A toxic amount of fluoride (22.6 milligrams), painted on
children's primary teeth, stays on for an hour or more.

"This is outrageous," said Beeber. "High levels of ingested
fluoride before the age of seven can forever discolor the permanent teeth," he
said.

A prominent dental researcher says, "If the current weak trend of
caries research in the United States continues, history will be harsh on all of
us for our failure to use our knowledge and resources to reduce, if not
eliminate, the burden of one of the world's most prevalent diseases," wrote Amid
Ismail, BDS, Professor, University of Michigan School of Dentistry in a report
to the panel.